I'm currently broke

Souta Matsuda lived an ordinary life in a two-story building.

That morning, he’d overslept after spending the entire night researching Kaiju, scribbling notes, and brainstorming ways to earn a living. He found nothing useful. Eventually, exhaustion won, and he ended up doomscrolling through ridiculous WhoTube videos until he passed out.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

"Hey! Matsuda-san! Get your ass out here this instant!"

Someone shouted while banging on Souta Matsuda's door, but Souta didn't respond; in any case, groaned and buried himself even deeper into his futon.

"I know you can hear me!"

Bang! Bang! Bang!

"So loud..." Souta finally muttered, shifting himself up and squinting at the door. 'Who in their right mind makes this much noise in the morning?'

"Matsuda-san!"

"I'm coming, I'm coming... Geez."

Souta finally stood from his futon, almost stumbling on his feet, his eyes a mix of sleepiness and irritation.

Click!

Opening the door, he was taken aback, seeing that the person who had been banging on his door was none other than his landlord, Mr. Takayama, and judging from his facial expression alone, he wasn't a morning person, or rather, he was just pissed about the fact that Souta took his time answering the door.

"Takayama-san?"
"What brings you here this wonderful morning?" Souta asked with a nervous smile.

"Wonderful morning? Do you even know what time it is?" Takayama-san exclaimed. "Anyway, you know why I'm here, so don't even think of playing dumb."

Souta let out an awkward chuckle, scratching the back of his head. He knew Takayama-san was there to correct rent, but he couldn't just go ahead and say to him that he was broke. Speaking of broke, he currently didn't have a single yen on him, cause he spent all his money browsing online like there was no tomorrow.

"What's so funny?" Takayama-san asked, looking at Souta with a puzzled expression.

"Nothing... But would you mind if we talked inside?"

A few minutes later, Takayama-san entered Souta's apartment, but he was surprised to see that it was a mess; the floor was littered with papers that had kaiju scribbles, and looking at a far corner, there was a white plastic trash bag that probably needed to be taken out, and to add to the mess, there were bear cans all around the apartment, and it smelled like a rat had just died recently.

'...Oh my god.' Takayama-san uttered inwardly, unable to tell what exactly he was looking at.

Souta checked his smartphone, and from the looks of it, he had a lot of unopened mail, and the time was 11:47 AM. But the good thing was that his device still had a pretty good life left, which was 78⁒.

"I can't believe it's this late," Souta murmured. "Just how many hours did I sleep?" He asked himself.

"Oi, Matsuda-san," Takayama-san spoke, and Souta pivoted, facing him. "Where is my money?" He paused, then shrugged. "I know things aren't going well for you, but I need to feed my family, and my daughter needs her college tuition, so things aren't sunshine and rainbows for me, too, you know."
"We're in the same boat, I know that, but you should know that this is my land, and you've been staying on it for free for like a whole year... So I beg of you, this month only. Pay up the rent before I kick your ass out to the streets."

'Damn, that was cold. But, he's right,' Souta thought inwardly.

"Takayama-san, I get that, but you already know what my situation is. So, if it would be too much to ask."

"Can I pay you next month?"

"What?" They both uttered at the same time.

Souta didn't do this intentionally, but it just kind of happened; that's why he was too surprised by what had just happened.

'He can't be serious... After everything I just said to him, and that's what he had to say.' Takayama-san wondered, looking at Souta with a dumbfounded expression on his face.

"Next month?" He muttered just to confirm if he had heard him correctly.

Souta nodded.

Takayama-san let out a soft sigh. "If you think I can just brush off that stupid request of yours, then you're mistaking me for your father, young man... Wait, how even old are you?" He asked.

Souta didn't reply; he only scratched his butt, looking at Takayama-san with a smile.

Some moments later.

"Listen, I'm giving you two weeks to pay off the rent for this month, and if you fail, I'm going to force you to pay the rent for all the months you've been staying here for free."

"Two weeks? Where can I find money in two weeks?" Souta asked as Takayama-san left the apartment.

"I don't know, and I don't care," Takayama-san said, closing the door behind Souta, who stood in a daze.

A second later, Takayama-san's footsteps could be heard going to the next floor of the apartment, where a young woman in her late twenties lived alone, as Souta did.

"Damn... What should I do now?" Souta exclaimed, moving a hand along his head in frustration.

***

After a few minutes of cooling off, he cleaned the apartment, took out the trash, shaved his morning beard, and finally went for a stroll to ponder his next move. While he was at it, he was planning on visiting the Ueno museum, just because it was close to where he lives, Sumida-ku.

He borrowed some money from one of his friends who lived next door to him and went on to buy himself a quick breakfast to satisfy his hunger, and while he was at it, he also bought some canvas papers, ink, and some cheap essentials for his research.

After a few hours, he visited the Ueno Museum in Taito Ward and was on his way back home.

Surprisingly, when he got to his apartment, he couldn't help but glance at his neighbor as she entered her apartment.

"Strange... I thought the lady who was living next door was old," he paused as the lady closed herself in. "But that, that looks like a high schooler."

He lingered for a moment before stepping forward, going to his own apartment.

"Anyway, I can't wait to explore and add up the information I've gathered."

Chapter 1 FIN